Pedestrian struck by Sen. Fuller Clark released from hospital

PORTSMOUTH — The pedestrian struck by state Sen. Martha Fuller Clark on Friday night was treated and released from Portsmouth Regional Hospital on Saturday, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Suzanne Laurent

PORTSMOUTH — The pedestrian struck by state Sen. Martha Fuller Clark on Friday night was treated and released from Portsmouth Regional Hospital on Saturday, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Fuller Clark allegedly "blacked out" before her car jumped a curb and hit a pedestrian from behind on Maplewood Avenue, police said.

The pedestrian, Carla Dow, 67, of 25 Goose Point Road, Kittery Point, Maine, was brought to Portsmouth Regional Hospital with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries around 8:40 p.m. Nov. 1, said police Sgt. Chris Roth, who noted he wasn't on the scene and didn't have specifics about Dow's injuries.

The 71-year-old state senator, a resident of 152 Middle St. in Portsmouth, was alert and conscious when police arrived at the corner of Maplewood Avenue and Hanover Street, Roth said, adding he assumed a medical condition had affected Fuller Clark, who was driving alone.

"We did not see her in her blacked-out condition," he said.

Messages left for Fuller Clark on her home and cell phones went unanswered and she did not return messages seeking comment as of mid-afternoon Saturday.

A call to a phone number for Dow in Kittery Point also went unanswered.

Roth speculated that Fuller Clark's silver 2010 Audi likely wasn't traveling at an excessive speed when it drove over the curb, "otherwise, there would have been serious bodily injury."

Roth said Fuller Clark isn't being charged with any violations of the law and showed no signs of impairment. She was brought to the hospital, where she would have to consent to a blood test.

Portsmouth Police Sgt. Rich Webb said Saturday afternoon that there were no updates or new information.

"This is still under investigation and we will give more information as it becomes available," he said.

This is the second time in as many months Fuller Clark has been in a single-vehicle crash, police said. At 8:26 p.m. on Sept. 8, Fuller Clark was reportedly driving eastbound on Route 33 in Portsmouth near St. Mary's Cemetery in the center divider lane when she drove up on the median and hit a road sign, Roth said.

Fuller Clark wasn't issued any citation at that time, according to Roth. Her car was towed and she wasn't brought to the hospital.

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